One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

After
Dr. McCoy (De Forest Kelley) gives a briefing about the local people and
customs of the planet Capella IV, based on his experiences there years earlier,
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) leads a landing party to the surface to secure
mining rights.

Unfortunately,
a Klingon officer, Kras (Tige Andrews) is on the planet for the same reason.
And he seems to have formed an alliance with Maab (Michael Dante), a Capellan
looking to dislodge the current Teer, or leader, named Akaar (Ben Gage).

The
coup occurs, leaving Akaar’s expectant wife, Eleen (Julie Newmar), to be
executed. Kirk breaks Capellan cultural values by attempting to save her life,
an act which necessitates that he, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy and Eleen
escape the village and flee into the mountains.

While
Kras and Maab pursue with Capellan warriors, the Enterprise, under Scotty’s
(James Doohan) command is diverted away from the planet by a false distress
call, in reality a Klingon vessel.

“Friday’s
Child” by Dorothy Fontana may not be commonly ranked as one of the best
episodes of Star Trek (1966-1969), yet it is nonetheless a solid and involving
episode, in large part because of the “intercultural” differences depicted in
the tale.

As
many of you know, I am a communication instructor at a North Carolina community
college, and I teach a course there called Introduction to Intercultural
Communications. I have noted, with some amusement, that Star Trek, and Star
Trek: The Next Generation get right, often, most of the principles of
intercultural communication as we understand them today, in 2016. In fact,
I’d really like to write a college textbook about how the Star Trek franchise practices
the values of respectful intercultural communication. There is literally, a Trek episode available for every lesson.

In
“Friday’s Child,” the Enterprise crew encounters an alien culture that is very
different from Earth's. Language and
its usage is different, and highly individual, as we see from the way McCoy
manages to insult Kras in terms that the Capellans recognize and understand.

We also see these differences in their
customs.

For
instance, Capellans prefer combat to love making, apparently. Spock has one of the episode’s best lines
when he notes that Kirk’s failure to fight with one Capellan warrior brands him
something of a “disappointment.”

The
Capellans also boast some draconian rules about how to touch/approach the spouse
of a leader. But through everything, we can see that these people also possess a
sense of honor. Their ways are not our ways. But that doesn't mean that the Capellans are primitive or wrong. Eleen attempts to sacrifice herself to save her newborn child.
And Maab, realizing he has been tricked by Kras, offers his life, despite the
fact that he now holds all the power on the planet.

But
through it all, Kirk, Spock and Bones do their utmost to respect the beliefs of
their hosts. Importantly, this doesn’t
mean that they approve of those beliefs or values, or that they like them.

Of course, most of the episode’s
action occurs when Kirk violates a Capellan ritual, and touches Eleen. He understands and respects the Capellans,
but not to the point that he is willing to see an innocent person -- or persons
-- murdered before his eyes for no purpose other than to maintain tradition.

What
Kirk and his crew practice is a brand of dual perspective. They are able to see
and understand how their hosts think. At the same time, they are true to their
own values. The intercultural conflicts
occurs (as it often does) when those two perspectives cannot be reconciled.

And having a Klingon around to exploit those differences surely doesn't help.

“Friday’s
Child” is a fun episode for many reasons. It possesses some great character
interaction between the big Three -- Kirk, Spock and McCoy -- as the triumvirate attempts to contend with Eleen, a character as strong willed as
each corner of the Trek triangle.

I
also like the action of the episode, with Kirk and Spock introducing the bow
and arrow to the Capellans. This is
probably a violation of the Prime Directive, of course. But since Kras is
present, influencing the Capellans, there is no down-side to Kirk attempting to
save the lives of his people.

“Friday’s
Child” is also a great episode for Scotty, who takes the center seat aboard the
Enterprise, and proves himself a measured, resolute commanding officer. Mr. Scott
assesses the situation -- and his responsibilities -- brilliantly, and is neither
provocative nor avoiding in carrying out his duties.

Although
the scenes aboard ship are mostly a time-killer between events on the planet,
Scotty’s unsentimental, perfectly-calibrated assessment of the situation with
the Klingons and the distress call proves that he is more than competent as a
captain. Given Scotty’s character, it is
unlikely he would seek or covet a command of his own, but he’d make a heck of a captain.

Nice review of “Friday’s Child”. You so very right that it is an important Scotty episode. As a boy in the '70s, I did not like this episode except for the scenes of the Enterprise with Scotty in command.

Nicely done, John. The alien communication angle really makes me want to watch "Friday's Child" and "Darmok" from The Next Generation back-to-back, since the latter is a textbook example of alien-human interaction. The similarities seem striking to me, thanks to your perspective.The Scotty stuff is definitely exciting, and the line "Fool me once, shame on you" stuck with me throughout my formative years. I'm wondering if this is mentioned in the book "All I Really Need to Know, I Learned from Watching Star Trek" by Dave Marinaccio.Gerald Fried's score for "Friday's Child" is one of his best. A very enjoyable episode!Steve

John, this is a great review of the episode! You identified and supported every good thing about it. Reading your review, it seems to be such a terrific story, with all the elements a good Star Trek episode should have. Nevertheless, like SGB, I've never liked "Friday's Child" whatsoever! I don't even feel enough about it to actively hate it.

It's one of those things I can't put my finger on. There's something distancing me from everything central to this episode. I dislike Kras, aptly known in Trek fan circles as Bob the Discount Klingon. I find Julie Newmar's character to be strangely unaffecting, though there's nothing especially wrong with Newmar's performance. I just can't seem to care about her predicament because I can't care about *her* (what the hell is her name again?), and if you don't really care about her, then you don't care about anything that happens.

That's what this episode does to me: I just . . . can't . . . give a crap. Somehow the dilemmas and problems lack enough of a *personal* stake for the Enterprise principals and therefore I as a viewer never really FEEL their personal investment in the outcome. I see it depicted, I just don't feel it, or feel that they feel it. Somehow what's on the page just doesn't make the leap from the screen.

"Friday's Child" is a top-button-undone episode of Star Trek. Its mission is to provide entertainment in the classical mode, while providing a look at another culture that believes in a code which may make some of us uncomfortable (as we watch from our comfy chairs today).

One thing that is never discussed is the episode's "love" of women. This comes through most clearly in composer Gerald Fried's score; listen to Eleen's theme, but also to the little ditty that accompanies the unamed female character who offers food and drink to our heroes in the tent. The notes are of sweetness.

Fried's music is a standout -- his original themes plus his scintillating, and thrilling, version of Alexander Courage's "Enterprise" theme that plays under the opening episode titles.

The location filming is lovely and adds a motion picture sensibility to the story.

Years ago while visiting a friend, I watched "Friday's Child" with him and his siblings. It struck me how much fun this episode is to watch with an audience. There was laughter during the character interplay... especially at the McCoy and Spock inter-barbs.

If we think that the Capellans are a static civilization, stuck in its old "backward" traditions and ceremonies, remember what Maab says...

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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